People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account

by Mark Pomerantz Narrated by Mark Pomerantz

Overview

People vs. Donald Trump is a fascinating inside account of the attempt to prosecute former president Donald Trump, written by one of the lawyers who worked on the case and resigned in protest when Manhattan's district attorney refused to act.

Mark Pomerantz was a retired lawyer living a calm suburban life when he accepted an unexpected offer to join the staff of the district attorney of New York County in February 2021 to work on the investigation of former president Donald Trump. The Manhattan DA was interested in Pomerantz because he brought vast experience in litigating white collar and organized crime cases, having worked as a federal prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney for decades. Pomerantz had prosecuted and defended cases involving murder, drug trafficking, political corruption, tax evasion, and financial fraud. His clients had included governors and senators, business leaders, financial institutions, and also gangsters and murderers.

Over the next year, Pomerantz investigated the world of Donald Trump and the Trump Organization. He interviewed potential witnesses, scrutinized financial records, and learned everything he could about Trump's business practices. The investigation led him to believe that the former president's approach to business had much in common with the business practices of another well-known public figure-former mob boss John J. Gotti. Ultimately, Pomerantz gathered enough evidence to support the view-held by many of his colleagues on the case, including former Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.-that former president Donald Trump should be indicted for a number of financial crimes. But that indictment never happened. This book explains why.

Pomerantz's work ultimately led to the indictment of the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, who pleaded guilty to tax fraud. But that indictment was merely the prelude to a larger criminal case that Pomerantz urged the Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg, to bring against Donald Trump. When the DA refused to authorize that prosecution, Pomerantz and his colleague Carey Dunne resigned. Aspects of the case Pomerantz wanted to bring are currently being pursued against Trump by the attorney general of New York State in a civil fraud case that does not involve criminal penalties.

In People vs. Donald Trump, Pomerantz tells the story of his unprecedented investigation, why he believes Donald Trump should be prosecuted, and what we can learn about the nature of justice in America from this extraordinary case. Pomerantz draws from a lifetime of legal experience to tell a devastating and frequently entertaining story of how prosecutors think, how criminals act, and how our justice system works-and sometimes doesn't work. Pomerantz has written a cautionary tale that illuminates the challenges of prosecuting Donald Trump, why Trump manages to dance between the raindrops of accountability, and how others might bring him to justice.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

02/13/2023

Former federal prosecutor Pomerantz, who came out of retirement to assist Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance’s investigation into Donald Trump, provides a thorough account of how the inquiry unfolded, and why it was put on hold when a new DA took office in 2022. Brought onboard in December 2020, Pomerantz worked pro bono to sort through a “long and unfocused laundry list” of issues identified by Vance and his team, including a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels and “the use of overstated financial statements and asset valuations” to obtain loans, to determine which, if any, should be prosecuted. He diligently explains the legal complications involved, including the lack of trustworthy eyewitnesses and “stalling tactics” by Trump. The biggest stumbling block, however, appears to have been a disagreement between Vance and incoming DA Alvin Bragg about whether the risk of losing a case against Trump was greater than the need to “vindicate the rule of law.” Pomerantz builds a persuasive argument in favor of prosecution while acknowledging that Bragg’s tenure would have been “defined and ruined” by a loss. Those hoping for juicy new details will be largely disappointed, but Pomerantz offers a unique glimpse into white-collar criminal prosecution. It’s an eye-opening lesson in the many shades of the law. (Feb.)

From the Publisher

"An eye-opening lesson in the many shades of the law." — Publishers Weekly

"A convincingly damning case that dives deep into the tangles of both law and finance." — Kirkus

Kirkus Reviews

2023-02-07
A former federal prosecutor recounts the failed effort to bring charges against Donald Trump.

“Over the months that I and others worked on the case, we developed evidence convincing us that Donald Trump had committed serious crimes,” writes Pomerantz, who was brought out of retirement to help Manhattan’s district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., investigate financial misdeeds. The author delivers a deep—and sometimes ponderously detailed—account of what that involved. One point was Trump’s habit of valuing his properties high for the purposes of bank loans and low for the purposes of paying taxes: Whereas one at 40 Wall St. was valued at more than $527 million for a lender, Trump valued it at between $16 million and $19 million for taxes. To Pomerantz’s chief associates, that “looked like fraud” and led the DA’s office to the verge of filing criminal charges. They did not, in part because gaming numbers is a common ploy in New York real estate circles. On the matter of Michael Cohen’s payout, on Trump’s behalf, of hush money to Stormy Daniels “so that she would not disclose her alleged affair with Trump on the eve of the 2016 election,” the legal reasoning gets complicated. The payout becomes illegal only if it’s established that this disclosure is an act of extortion, while the demonstrated falsification of business records is only a misdemeanor in New York. In the end, the DA went after lesser players, including Cohen and Trump Organization finance director Allen Weisselberg, both of whom received prison sentences for their crimes. When Vance left office, his successor, to Pomerantz’s great consternation, dropped the investigation because, the author suggests, he “had scant experience in leading or defending high-profile prosecutions.” Pomerantz’s dour conclusion for the moment is that “once again, Donald Trump had managed to dance between the raindrops of accountability.” Yet, he adds, there are other legal avenues to take, so stay tuned.

A convincingly damning case that dives deep into the tangles of both law and finance.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176886399
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	02/07/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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